How users read a webpage

They don't.

Users usually only scan a webpage.

If you want to make a user read everything on a webpage, put six large words on it.   Three words on the first line, two on the second and one on the third line.  We call this the F-shaped reading pattern, and it has important ramifications for the textual layout of your site:

1. Realize that users won't read all of your text = clarify, clarify, clarify!
2. The first few words on each page are the most important - make them count!
3. Make use of easily scanned headlines, taglines and bylines.
4. Lists are easily scanned - make appropriate use of them.

Information presentation & inverted pyramids

How you present information to viewers is critical.  You need to spend some time deciding what you want to say and how you want to say it.

Check out how your newspaper lays out its stories, chances are they will use the inverted pyramid style to draw you in to a story.  Headlines like the following example leave you in no doubt as to what the story is about.

"Aliens Ate My Dog!"

The first paragraph will then summarize the article concisely.  Next the actual story will be told.   We call this "inverted pyramid" writing style, where we present the conclusion first followed by a summary and then the article or background.

On web pages we need to use a similar approach: Headline, summary, background.   This makes sure that viewers scanning your web pages get the critical information (headlines) first.  If the headline is what they are looking for or interests them, they will then read deeper to gather more information.

Microcontent: Headlines & headers

Your website needs great headlines!

The headline needs to be a very concise summary of the immediately following paragraph, and they need to be readable on their own.

Page titles, email subjects, taglines and bylines all need to be written in much the same manner.  You need to use as few words as possible to convey as much information as you can.  Which headline is the most concise?

"80 year old reports Aliens ate his Jack Russell"

"Pensioner: Aliens ate my dog"

"Aliens ate my dog"

"Aliens eat dog"

The following list might help you get started on writing clear, concise headlines for your website:

1. Make the meaning crystal clear.
2. Use as few words as possible to increase scanning ease.
3. Use plain language.
4. Be wary of using humor - if it falls flat it has failed!
5. Make the most important word the first word ("Aliens" in the example above).
6. Use power words, keywords and highly descriptive words.
7. Don't begin with soft words like: "the", "Me", "I" or "a".  In fact use as few of these as you can.
8. Summarize the text that will immediately follow.
9. Use subheadings to break up long text and emphasize subsequent points.

Hyperlink theory

Your website should use hyperlinks to improve credibility.  Users of the web find links to known/respected sites reassuring and this improves the status of your site.

If you're a scout group, a link to the national scout body tells viewers you're affiliated and bound by the rules of the national organization.  Links to scout groups in the surrounding area infers that your group compares favourably with other local clubs.

Use enough links to establish your credibility, to indicate that you're not on your own.   But don't fall into the trap of making your site a link fest as you'll run the risk of viewers using it as a "jumping off" point.

Numbers and Quantities

At school we were taught to write whole numbers smaller than 11 and use numerals for the others.  However, on the web you should use digits or numerals to represent most numbers to improve scanning.  63 is more easily scanned than "sixty three".

For really large numbers (bigger than 1 million) we find the number of digits itself becomes confusing.  In these circumstances use digits for significant part and write out the quantity: 4.8 million not 4800000.

If in doubt, write out both and see which more easily stops your eye and which is faster to understand when you reread the text.

Explain any unusual quantities like a US billion (1 thousand million) vs. UK billion (1 million million).  There are similar differences in use of the quantity "gallon" and not all your viewers will be aware that "nano" as a prefix denotes 10 to the power of -9 (1 thousand millionth of one part).

Grammar

Grammar is always a difficult issue.  Competing over the web are the traditionalists (strict old school) and the new age grammarians (looser ideals based on what the multitude will accept).

We also have to deal with the differences in language generated by the US school vs. European school of grammar.

Some simple rules might suffice:

1. email vs. e-mail;  todays trend is to use "e-mail" or "E-mail" when the term begins a sentence.
2. online vs. on-line;  use online with no hyphen.
3. WWW vs. www;  use WWW or Web.
4. web site vs. website;  Use the latter, capitalize at the beginning of a sentence.  Similarly use webpage (vs. web page) but "web user" instead of "webuser"
5. You're is a contraction of "you are" and is different from "your" which means belonging to you.
6. Effect is a noun (special effects).  Affect is a verb meaning "to influence".
7. setup vs. set up;  use setup.
8. log on vs. logon;  use logon, but note that you should "log in" and not "login"

Punctuation

Apostrophes, commas, full stops and hyphens all have their uses.   Here's what we usually find acceptable on the web:

1. Full stop at the end of each sentence.
2. Capital letter at the beginning of each sentence.
3. Apostrophes;  usage denotes missing letters, so "it's" is a contraction of "it is" (it's a BMW).  "its" indicates possession (my computer and its keyboard)
4. Paragraph indentation;  indent the first line if you like, but it must be applied consistently across the whole website.
5. Punctuation inside or outside quotes?;  US = inside, UK = outside.   Actually we're on the USA side of this one.
6. color vs. colour;  another Us vs. USA difference.  Choose one and stick with it.
7. Program vs. programme;  Program is accepted when referring to software.  For all other usage, use either with consistency.

Paragraph formation

1. Start your paragraph with a capital and write as many sentences as you need to convey one idea.  If a new idea comes along, put it in the next paragraph.
2. Use headlines to summarize the paragraph, and place the headline immediately before the text.
3. For long text, break it up with subheadings.  Hyperlinks are just as effective at breaking up text as they usually appear at the end of a paragraph.
4. Bulleted lists are a great way to save on text.  Lists are also more easily scanned.
5. Use clear concise language and don't ramble; stick to the point.
6. Write short paragraphs.
7. Use action verbs and minimize passive verbs.
8. Get the viewers attention!
9. Spellcheck
10. Spellcheck
11. Spellcheck!

Conversational style

Imagine you're sitting talking to your websites target audience.

Are you alone or in the company of colleagues?  If alone, you need to use the first person when referring to yourself ("I").  If you and your colleagues are doing the talking you need to use the second person ("we" or "us").   This is your conversational perspective and you need to apply it consistently across your website.

Again imagine talking with your target audience.  Are you in an office or speaking from behind a desk?  If so the tone is probably formal.   If you're wearing a tie but not in your own office, the tone is more likely semiformal.   If you're on the beach in a T-shirt or in your everyday street clothes, the tone is informal.

The tone gives you clues to what language to use:

• Formal; use language appropriate to an office setting including business terms and jargon.  But remember to explain these terms.  You'll spend more time "talking to" your audience.
• Semiformal; use language appropriate to your target audience.  Fewer business terms and less jargon is appropriate.  The tone should be more conversational with more opportunities for your audience to interact (you asking questions).
• Informal; use everyday conversational language.

Keep the perspective and tone in mind when you're writing your content.   You might find it useful to locate a picture showing your preferred setting, this image will help keep your mind in the correct reference frame while you write.